Emily Cohen
by FictionInReality
Summary: The Cohen family's thoughts when new baby Cohen is born.
1. Sandy

_Disclaimer: If I owned it, it wouldn't be ending._

She's beautiful.

A miniature of her mother in the way Seth had been a miniature of himself, Emily has wisps of blonde hair and big blue eyes that watch his every move.

He never did think he'd see the day he'd have a baby girl.

He wonders if he'll be able to adjust.

For years now, it's been "the boys," "my boys," "the Cohen's boys." Never once did it occur to him that a Cohen girl could fit into the picture.

But looking back into her eyes as she wriggles slightly in her tiny pink blanket, he welcomes the change and the challenge.

He pictures his future:

One-year-old Emily taking her first steps, speaking her first words. He hopes it's dada, but if she follows in Seth's footsteps, her first word will be TV.

Three-year-old Emily cuddling with him on the couch in front of an old home video, jumping up excitedly when one of her brothers comes home for a surprise visit from college.

Five-year-old Emily babbling excitedly about her first day of Kindergarten at a family dinner, explaining how, even though Mommy and Daddy cried, she didn't, and how she made friends with a little boy named Joshua.

Thirteen-year-old Emily being Bat Mitzvahed, never once mentioning how she always whined about having to go to lessons.

He stops envisioning the future when he feels her tiny fist close around his finger and he comes back down to the here and now.

In that moment, he realizes he's come out on top: A beautiful wife, two great sons, and a tiny, perfect daughter.

With all he's been through, Sandy realizes, he wins.

**Up Next: Kirsten**


	2. Kirsten

_Disclaimer: If I owned it, it wouldn't be ending._

This time had been easier than the last time.

The last time, it had been at least thirty-five hours from the time she was admitted to the hospital to the time the baby had been born.

She and Sandy would later joke that it was because Seth knew what Newport would be like.

But this time, it was quick.

Six hours. She came in and immediately gave birth just so she could get back to mothering as quickly as possible, Seth had claimed.

She's admittedly excited and she would bet she had every right to be.

She now has someone with whom to discuss make-up and boys and gossip magazines and clothes. After years of being surrounded by video games and sports teams and fist fights and girl problems, she's pretty sure she deserves that.

That's not to say she didn't adore her boys, she notes. Every fist fight and soccer game had two accompanying family dinners and times they helped her cook for the holidays.

Well, maybe times Ryan helped her cook.

Ryan, she muses. She worries about him. Her fragile son (though he'd never admit it), she worries that he will feel his place in the family being usurped by the baby.

She shares her concerns with Seth, who shakes his head at her,

"Mom, Ryan's eighteen. He's not going to be jealous of the baby."

But a mother's child is always her child, she tells him. They'll be fifty-five and she'll still worry about them.

She still worries about Ryan until she sees him with Emily. He's the first to pick her up, more willing than Seth, and his smile grows wide each time she wraps her tiny hand around his finger.

She wipes the tears of joy from her eyes as Sandy instructs the boys to smile for a picture, Emily now propped up in Seth's arms.

It's the first of many portraits of her three children, and she wonders what she did to get so lucky.

**Up Next: Seth**


	3. Seth

_Disclaimer: If I owned it, it wouldn't be ending._

He can't believe how tiny she is.

He's always known babies were little; he just had never seen such a tiny one so close up.

As a child, every birthday, every time he got a wishbone, every time he caught the clock reading "11:11," he wished for a sibling.

He didn't care whether it was a boy or a girl, but he only wanted someone his own age to play with on weekends.

Back then, he hadn't had friends with whom he could have playdates.

When he finally got a sibling, he was sixteen. So was his new brother.

Ryan brought with him new problems, new insecurities, and a new need to share his parents.

But he also brought a lot of happy memories Seth never would've have had had he never come along.

It occurs to him momentarily that Emily would bring much of the same.

He's a big brother now, his parents tell him, and he scolds them for treating him like he's four. He rolls his eyes as his father hands him an "I'm a big brother" t-shirt and then hands one to Ryan.

He really loves the idea of the role, but he'd never tell his family that.

He loves that he'll be her teacher. He'll show her how to play video games and write stories, how to get out of being grounded and how to charm adults into giving her money.

Sure, they're not the skills she needs most in life, but teaching of those skills should be left to the parents.

He's the big brother now, and he gets to teach Emily about the best things in life.

**Up Next: Ryan**


	4. Ryan

_Disclaimer: If I owned it, it wouldn't be ending._

He realizes how comfortable he is in this situation.

Three, four years ago, he wouldn't dream he ever could be comfortable in such an intimate setting with the Cohens (or that he could feel as though he belonged there).

But now, he notices that when Sandy puts his arm around him, he no longer flinches.

No more does he feel out of place when Sandy and Kirsten force him to pose for family pictures; he even groans with Seth in annoyment.

Most surprisingly, he realizes how easily the words "My little sister Emily" roll off his tongue and how natural it feels that a surge of protectiveness overcomes him each time he looks at the little girl.

To be honest, he feels bad for any boys who ever come near her.

Between him, Sandy, and Seth, the little girl will be thirty-two by the time she has her first date.

But that's a long way away and he grins as he takes her tiny hand in his.

He whines with Seth as Kirsten tells them to smile for the camera.

"Boys, your sister was just born," Sandy tells them, "Do this for your mother."

The phrase "your mother" hits Ryan and he steps back to pose for the picture.

These are his parents and his siblings; this is his family.

And he's completely at ease with that.

**Up Next: Emily (If you guys want it.)**


	5. Emily

_Disclaimer: If I owned it, it wouldn't be ending._

She's not really sure why her family is so crazy.

At five years old, she's more perceptive than the other little girls in her class, and her daddy tells her it's because of the way she's raised.

She thinks it's because, well, her family is crazy.

It's the little things that clue her in: her daddy singing her songs from the movie Grease until she falls asleep every night, her mommy cooking things with names that aren't real words, one of her brothers thinking he's a superhero and the other… well, the other is dating Taylor. And when Emily asked her daddy what "crazy" meant, he had used Taylor's name plenty of times.

Not that it's a bad thing; Emily likes her crazy family.

After all, if her family wasn't crazy, her daddy wouldn't sing to her mommy and her mommy wouldn't make her the special lunches no one else had at school. And if her family wasn't crazy, Seth wouldn't be married to Summer and Ryan wouldn't pick her up from school once a week and take her wherever she wanted to go with the promise that if she wanted it to be a secret, he wouldn't tell mommy and daddy.

Sometimes, she can even get one of her brothers to dance with her after dinner.

Other times, she's content just to watch her family as they do whatever it is they do.

She realizes things when she sits and colors and watches them operate around her.

She realizes Seth and Ryan make each other laugh more than anyone else does.

She realizes Mommy and Daddy hug and kiss a lot and that Seth, though he doesn't say anything out loud, scrunches up his nose when they do.

She realizes that, even though the whole family fights over the remote, no matter what TV show they land on, no one watches anyway because they're all too busy talking.

If she tells these things to her daddy, he shakes his head and kisses her cheek and tells her she's too smart for her own good.

She wonders if it's possible to be too smart for her own good, but she shakes it off and runs to answer the door.

Pulling it open, she jumps into Ryan's arms as he hugs her and kisses her cheek hello. He passes her off to Seth and says hello to mommy and daddy and Seth spins her in circles, calling her Emmy and dipping her upside down.

An hour later, watching everyone sit down at the kitchen table, Emily grins.

She's glad her family is crazy.


End file.
